Enhancement Training Day 4 Afternoon: A Glimpse of the Transcendent
Afternoon of the Fourth Day of Training
Rio and Fon, seeking victory against the superior Jero, challenged him to a fight. If viewed solely as a result, it would be summed up as a defeat. However, the content of the battle was extremely meaningful.
Feints through changes in pace, leading with killing intent, and an invisible strike piercing through a blind spot from a blind spot.
Among the several direct hits, miraculously evading Jero’s magic, there was one instance where Fon’s pincer attack slipped past Rio’s continuous assault. Using that as a decoy, Rio’s strike deeply cut into Jero’s flank, leaving undeniable damage.
They clearly demonstrated that reaching the transcendent was possible.
And then, in the afternoon.
The group reappeared in the garden, facing off were Jero and Stella.
The reason Stella didn’t participate in the morning sparring, leaving it to Rio and Fon, was ostensibly due to the difference in their abilities.
The truth was that Jero wanted to draw out the special power he sensed from Stella, along with the rumors he heard while walking around town, to gauge her literal full potential.
Therefore,
“I’m going to get a little serious, so you should too, Villain Slayer.”
“…I believe I am being serious.”
“That’s with your reason in control, right? Drop the pretense and get serious with the resolve to die. You should be able to do it, you who single-handedly killed that damn Roper with its disgusting ecology.”
“…Haa.”
Jero, wielding a golden short spear and a jade scepter, surrounded by swords composed of fire, ice, lightning, and wind magic, faced Stella.
The alias of a cold, cruel, and merciless Villain Slayer. The achievement of killing a Roper of absurd scale with its disgusting ecology. The rumor of creating a mountain of corpses connecting towns in a single night, made up of Demon Race, Monsters, and criminals.
Because he was convinced that these were undeniable facts, he tried to draw out that power from Stella.
It wasn’t that Stella didn’t understand this.
However, even understanding it, there was a reason why Stella couldn’t commit to drawing it out.
“I’ll die, you know?”
“Me? Sorry, but I don’t think any power can bridge the gap between our strengths.”
“No, I will.”
“…Haa?”
“You’re probably talking about the power I was born with, not magic, but it’s not something that can be used up normally.”
Self-destruction and self-death due to her own power.
That was the reason Stella hesitated to unleash her full potential.
Jero, who could handle it without such consequences, Fana, who didn’t experience such a backlash, and Will, who didn’t have a backlash at all…
Because they had no experience of being destroyed or dying by their own power, the person facing her and the onlookers didn’t quite understand.
“…Well, I don’t know what’s going to happen, but I roughly understand why you’re not trying to draw it out. That aside, unleash that power.”
“I don’t intend to die, you know?”
“Don’t worry. Someone will stop you before that happens, and as long as you’re not completely dead, we can pull you back from anywhere.”
“…What do you mean?”
“Exactly what I said. We have Ferno Desire (the strongest) and Filo Norstork (the wisest) here. If the master is here, he can stop your movements from anywhere, and if the teacher is here, she can heal you as long as you’re not completely dead, even if you’re 80 or 90 percent dead.”
“…Hmm.”
“Well, if it’s still impossible, that’s fine too. With your abilities, you won’t die even if I go all out, and you should be able to handle it well enough, right?”
“No, I’ll use it.”
“Oh? Are you sure?”
“Yes, it seems safety is guaranteed.”
After considering everything, she decided there was some truth to it, and Stella, who had been hesitant, suddenly showed affirmation to use her power… and took a stance.
Instead of holding her sword diagonally downward as before, she held it slightly above her chest, closed her eyes, and regulated her breathing.
As everyone watched in silence, Stella took a deep, slow breath, and then opened her eyes, which emitted a black glow that seemed to paint over everything, and inhaled.
“I shall execute my self-righteousness.”
And the incantation began.
＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊
“Atrocity, slaughter, lawlessness, transgression.”
The incantation was spoken in a calm, emotionless voice, and in response, cracks appeared on both Stella’s eyes and sword with a low, heavy sound.
“This is self-righteousness and atrocity, my sin and my ruin.
A calamity and sublimity engraved upon this body from birth.”
Black smoke erupted from the engraved cracks, covering the surroundings, and at the same time, cracks appeared clearly on Stella’s white skin from her cheeks to her neck.
“Evil Good (Diego), Wicked Saint (Laredo), Sin Punishment (Nujero), False Truth (Vonia).”
The black turned red, the smoke changed into water, and then red blood flowed from the cracked parts where the smoke had been erupting, running down her body and falling onto the ground.
Jero’s eyes widened, almost all the spectators were speechless, and while Filo tried to move to stop her, Ferno held Filo back and quietly watched Stella.
“It is the tree of ruin, the symbol of destruction, the setting sun of annihilation, the lament of the end.
There is no justice, no legitimacy, no purity. There is only an atrocious, self-righteous, selfish, and hopeless desire. An irredeemable self-centeredness.”
Without recognizing any of this, Stella continued her incantation.
The flowing blood stained the ground red, and as the sword held before her chest shattered and fell into the pool of blood, the incantation… concluded.
“■■■■■ (―――――)”
Meaningless sounds, not words, an unknowable name.
It was exhaled along with Stella’s breath mixed with blood, and at the same time, all the cracks and blood reversed, and her tattered body was restored.
The remains of the shattered sword, mixed with the clinging blood, floated up, wriggled, and transformed into a hideous, evil sword, which was placed in her outstretched hand.
“Haa… Sorry to keep you waiting, it won’t last long, so shall we begin?”
Having concluded the incantation, she gripped the Blood Sword as if it were natural, pointed its tip at Jero, and took a step forward while speaking… instantly closing the space between her and Jero and raising the Blood Sword overhead.
“Heh… I messed up here.”
Recognizing this, Jero immediately moved his Magic Sword, short spear, and scepter to intercept the descending Blood Sword, and retreated as he felt his Magic Sword being swallowed.
Seeing his Magic Sword being swallowed and destroyed by the Blood Sword the moment they made contact, Jero instantly created fifty Magic Swords and immediately directed them at Stella.
While visually confirming this, Stella moved, destroying thirty Magic Swords in an instant, and approached Jero, who had his eyes wide open, and swung the Blood Sword.
Just a horizontal slash, just a single flash. However, its speed was fast, and its power was enough to erase a Magic Sword with the strength equivalent to orichalcum in a single blow.
In other words, a hit = instant death.
With cold sweat on his forehead, Jero instantly generated Magic Swords between himself and Stella, moved to Stella’s back faster than a blink, and raised his short spear.
There was no room for composure or calmness, just a strike filled with killing intent and the will to surely take down his opponent.
“One Wheel.”
That strike, which should have been unavoidable, aimed at a gap in movement.
The Magic Sword, which should have been erased because it was generated in the path of the swinging sword, returned to its original state, and Stella’s figure disappeared from Jero’s sight, thus evading it.
Jero, understanding that he was exposing a gap by swinging his short spear into the void, immediately moved into the air, which he couldn’t reach by simply jumping, to try and assess the situation.
As if she had predicted it, Stella’s figure, raising the Blood Sword before Jero’s eyes, made him react with defense and deflection based on instinct, rather than assessing the situation.
Clicking his tongue and glaring, he repeatedly moved as if teleporting, allocating half of his thoughts to trying to judge Stella’s movements.
In contrast, Stella landed on the ground, spat out blood, and, holding the Blood Sword, jumped in front of Jero, who was moving erratically at a speed that made it impossible to understand how she could see him.
“Ah, damn it!! Hundred Flowers Bloom (Ventisca)!!!”
“Two Wheels.”
The generation of hundreds of Magic Swords and the simultaneous manipulation of them, causing a dance of magic like a blizzard of scattered petals.
The magical attack, filling my entire vision and enveloping Stella’s body, began to converge on her as she held her sword, trying to suppress it.
In that instant, all the magic swords were cut down.
A single, sharp clang echoed as all the magic swords that had been dancing about were sliced apart and dissipated into mist.
This was beyond Jero’s expectations.
He had thought Stella was somewhat strong, enough to perhaps kill himself. But the reality was that her reckless, full-force power was enough to easily kill Jero himself. In other words, she possessed a transcendent power from birth, similar to Ferno and Fana.
Therefore, Jero was about to use a trump card he hadn’t intended to use. A trump card that, if the conditions were right, he was confident could even kill Ferno.
“Reva—” “That’s enough. No more than this.” “—!?!?!?!”
Just as the Blood Sword and the trump card were about to collide, Ferno intervened, delivering a gut punch to Jero and a chop to the back of Stella’s neck, stopping them both.
They were both taken by surprise by the blow that came from outside their perception, a blow with considerable force, and their minds went blank as they lost consciousness.
“More than I expected, but not this much. Well, whatever. Philo, heal these two quickly.”
“Got it.”
“Yeah. And tomorrow, just have classes.”
“Roger that, I’ll take care of it.”
As they heard that conversation, their consciousnesses fell into darkness.
※※※※※※※※
・Next time: The final training arc, which will also be an explanation arc disguised as a class.
・By the way, if the final clash had started, the entire area, including the mansion, would have been blown away and reduced to ashes.